People need to realize you can use alternatives
Problem is that a) new users don’t know that they can join communities across servers, and b) it is intuitive use start with the servers that a lot of people like.
Instance browsing and onboarding is probably the biggest challenge to Lemmy’s growth. The current experience either scares new people away, or encourages them to congregate on a limited set of instances.
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You could always create an account for your username on multiple popular servers if you wanted to. Can’t stop it on small servers but having multiple accounts in the Fediverse is not a crime.
Nah, I can’t see any reason to make more than one account.
same
agreed
same
yeah
yeah
yeah
Why would you need more than one?
Just if you wanted more than one. Just like u/kadu said about email. It’s like if you had your email on Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail. I know a lot of people have an alt on platforms like Discord too.
I know, look at the usernames of the replies
I hate Discord with a passion. Can’t wait for https://github.com/vector-im/element-call to be done so I can leave that behind.
I hate element so much on mobile (and desktop, but not as much). I’ve been planning on making my own Matrix client for a while.
If you can do better I’d be glad to migrate! :) As long as it is a matrix spec compliant client we don’t even need to agree which one is better so there’s that.
I sometimes have problems with notifications not going away and I hate that custom ephemeral messages hasn’t been merged but that’s about it I must say. (Multiaccount would be nice to separate work and private a little)
Wow, posting on some of the bigger instances was really slow. I guess the influx of users has caused that
It can be useful in case whatever instance you’re using defederate or is defederated by another instance you want to participate in. It’s also useful in case your instance goes the way of the dodo and shut down.
Look at the usernames in the replies to this comment
I tried to make an account on lemmy.ml and it looks like their servers are (understandably) overloaded
I ended up choosing lemmy.world instead
My understanding is I’m not missing out on anything by chosing a less-popular instance. Did I get that right?
yes!
lemmy.world in particular doesn’t block any instances
see for comparison:
Oof, I can see why some of those instances are blocked, though. Since I’m on Beehaw, I checked their block list and…wow. Scrolled through each one for a few minutes and now I’m hoping I’m not on some kind FBI list for it. A few highlights from my research expedition:
- A meme featuring various characters (MLP, Vaporeon, Peter Griffin, etc) unironically mourning Ted Kaczynski
- NSFL gore
- People calling for the execution of cops who stopped rioters on Jan 6
- SO. MUCH. LOLICON.
- “Hahaha look at this WOKE LIB 🤣🤣🤣”
- QANON. QANON EVERYWHERE.
I was only on each one for a minute or so. I don’t think I’m missing out on anything except maybe being put on some kind of list.
same, I’m on Sopuli and their Blocklist is pretty short but has the worst ones.
they are really, really bad and some are straight up illegal in some countries.
Mostly far-right ones, straight up terrorism (seriously there are people with RAF and other terrorist organization’s logos on their profile pics there), nsfl gore videos (like people dying and being tortured type of stuff), and nsfw ones full of underage anime girls in suggestive poses…
lemmygrad is probably the worst one out of all of them, just because of it’s size (tankie terrorist group)
lemmygrad is probably the worst one out of all of them, just because of it’s size (tankie terrorist group)
Now that’s some new far-right apologism I’ve never seen before, I’m rather happy with lemmygrad being the big one and not some place like evropa.ss lmao
One fascist is one too many either way
I haven’t blocked anything on my instance yet since I haven’t encountered that but maybe I should copy sopuli’s blocklist.
Lemmy grad is my favorite.
I’ve just finally caved in and visited lemmygrad for the first time and oh, boy! I’ve heard the sound of my grey matter atrophy
Even if you wouldn’t like it, the cool thing here is you can decide for yourself. If… you feel the need to do so.
I saw how long the list is and got kinda concerned I might miss out on content since I’m on beehaw, but now it just sounds like I’m getting sheltered from all the internet wackjobs lol
The documentation explaining how fediverse works is so bad. It’s so long and convoluted anyone new just can’t be bothered reading it.
bro’ i didn’t even knew that there was a documentation
https://join-lemmy.org/docs/en/index.html
No, one will read that
We need a way simpler cheat sheet to get people in and leave that documentation for later
Someone posted a good infographic about the fediverse over on kbin in RedditMigration (another complicated wrinkle in this whole fediverse thing) that did a great job explaining this whole fediverse thing.
If only I could link it.
Edit: jerboa editor doing me dirty
Docu-what now?
Seriously, if the average user needs to understand distributed systems to play in the fediverse pool, they are going to land back at Reddit. Just get people in the door (any door) and fight the technical debt that creates later.
Sure, it’s a shit plan. But, it’s the only way to really capitalise on the current moment. With both Twitter and Reddit blasting away at their own feet, there is a real opportunity for something better to step up. The fediverse can be that thing. But, not if people end up gatekeeping it. Less Stallman style, “RTFM!” And more, “hey, welcome. Let’s get you set up.”
Well, that’s my point. We need a cheat sheet easy to read that gives most of the necessary information to create an account and use different instances and how to post from one to another.
https://join-lemmy.org/docs/en/index.html is good but way too much for newcomers
I agree, the first page is already too much text, where is the easy to consume infographic explaining it in comic style? :/
It doesn’t help that there are pictures, but they’re failing to load atm.
Idk what’s going on, I just know I’m ready for open source options. I’m signed up here and mastodon now and plan to use the duration of the reddit strike to learn more about these platforms, delete my activity on others, and slowly build communities so I’m not reliant on others for news and learning.
I don’t think it’s too difficult to figure out. Seems more like a matter of shifting activity to keep people engaged. I’m far from tech literate, though.
Yeah. It needs to be explained much better. Compare it to email or something
I recognize it’s easier said than done obviously and I don’t have a good solution to propose; but if there was a way to make the app UI more user friendly it might help the understandability of the fediverse and subsequently lower the barrier to entry. Unless someone can figure out how to make it more seemless of an experience, it’s gonna be hard to get massive traction
I’m very tempted to switch to another instance, but from what I understand, you can’t migrate your account like you can with Mastodon? That seems like something that should be expected with fediverse apps…
I chose lemmy.ml based on two things:
- I wanted a server that wasn’t likely to close I don’t really know for sure, but I imagine it’s easy to underestimate how much money or time is required to run a server. And I’d really prefer not having to worry about migrating. The ‘run by Lemmy’s developers’ part makes me think that either the risk will be lower or the people running the server will know how to prevent reaching a point like that.
- I didn’t want to join a very specific instance As I see it, there are two possible scenarios:
- The instance I join will affect the content I’m exposed (and not exposed) to, in which case I want to experience ‘the whole internet’ rather than a section of it.
- The instance I choose is irrelevant to the content I get, in which case, (apart from community rules) it shouldn’t really matter which one I choose, so I would just join the biggest instance.
Still something that could help with the choosing-an-instance process is to display in the list of servers the community rules and if they are blocking certain communities.
This was pretty much exactly my thought process. My biggest concern here is account stability-from what I can tell, if your instance gets taken down by its owners, your account is gone.
So until the devs figure out a way to centralize account credentials so that isn’t an issue, I’d much rather join on a big instance than a small one, especially one that the devs of lemmy themselves own. They have a clear interest in keeping it running, so the chances of my account vanishing are small, just like with bigger social media sites.
The hard reality here is that, much like in real life markets, federated social media will likely tend toward a small number of very large instances and lots of significantly smaller ones. Most people want a stable, consistent experience and don’t want to worry about losing communities or accounts. And unless an instance is STRICTLY policing it’s communities, like lemmygrad for instance, then I think we will see the same thing happen with communities-right now there are lots of communities that are basically identical, and I think we’ll see one or two of each become the “main” ones people use-and those will likely be on larger instances.
so the chances of my account vanishing are small
As long as you don’t mention Tiananmen Square or the CCP’s ongoing genocide of Uyghurs 🙃
I keep seeing people joke about this-do the mods here really ban people for talking about it? It seems like it’s a bit of a meme here…
Short answer: yes, the mods consider criticism of the CCP to be “orientalism” (ie, racist against Asians).
There was a bit of a kerfuffle the other day: https://beehaw.org/post/457546
You worry it’ll close if you choose a smaller server, but you don’t mind your server being instable due to being over capacity (something it’s already having issues with, hence asking people not to join)? Like, no matter if the servers goes down due to it being over it’s capacity or due to quiting, you still can’t use it… Sure it may come back up, but why not join a stable semi-sized instance instead that run smoothly for you and doesn’t cause more trouble for the devs?
I mean, you trust the developers to keep things running smoothly, but you don’t trust their message to not join because they currently can’t…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but being over capacity will likley get sorted. Quitting is permanent.
Nah just register at whichever instance that sounds the coolest to append to your name. Just FYI I’m from
programming.dev.This is something that lemmy devs need to better address. This is an “Eternal September” kind of situation. People (me included) are not used to the fediverse. They think you can participate only if you’re in that instance. And people want content, so they think "why’s the instance with most people? Ahh lemmy.ml? Cool, let’s join.
Lemmy.world gang
tbf people just wanna sign up and click on funny links, not browse through 100 rando instances to find the one that lines up with their exact interests and wait for approval and worry about uptime and whether their instance will still exist in a year
Proud to be a sh.itjust.works user
I created my own server…
IDK, beehaw.org and lemmy.world aren’t doing too bad
World crew
Commenting from beehaw here! I still am figuring out what’s what but super happy!
World here. I have no idea how to even Guage that lol. I wish there was a list of popular subs in sidebar. Having to type them in or search is annoying, but we’ll figure it out. So far I found 3 communities I was in before so that’s cool. I’m still figuring this out. It’s been about 1hr since I joined lol.
Check this out, they made a map:
I just got plugged into the matrix 😎
Same.
Awesome, thanks for the link :)
They need to do away with the ridiculous manual approval process on most servers and recommend servers that forego it on the main site.
I agree with this. Why should you have to write an essay to join a server which communites you might not even chose to interact with? Completely ridiculous
if you don’t wanna apply, then don’t apply, simple as that, just join one of the generic ones without an approval process.
the application requirement exists for a reason: many communities only want certain kind of people in their server, if you’re not a match, and you know it, then why bother even trying or complaining about it? find another one that’s your match because you aren’t their match either.
Don’t think anyone was confused about how to exercise free will. The criticism is on needing/having the process. Everyone understands why it exists. Some just think it’s a poor reason.
Yeah. I don’t know how to argue for it. It seems obvious to me that some communities have standards to keep and an open borders policy is an automatic way of not keeping those standards.
There are servers with “open borders” that require lengthy essays. Your reasoning is irrelivant
that’s not “open borders”, that’s equivalent to a visa request that will very likely be denied if the border agent decides he doesn’t like it, so my reasoning stands
I’m sorry but your reasoning is flawed in so many other ways that confronting all o the issues would require writing an essay which I have already involuntarliy started thanks to your complete idiocy. To start with: essays can easily be fabricated or automatically generated. There is no guarantee of any kind that a person is a ceirtan way because he sent some text over the internet assuring anyone of those qualities. There is no way to trust any server unless it’s invite only where people only invite friends they know can be trusted. If that’s how lemmy will end up then it will never be able to replace reddit. Having to interact with lunatics like you make me realize that lemmy is sure to die
Lemmy is worthless without users. We need people to switch from reddit to lemmy. If you get new users to belive that lemmy is not like reddit, they won’t switch. Making you write an essay to join a server will get the average person thinking that joining a server is a big deal and mak the conclusion that lemmy will be fragmented and not like reddit and promptly quit making an account on any server. You seem to have a lot of faith in people being willing to understand how lemmy works but the average person will not be idealistic and only check to see if it can be a replacement for reddit. Your mindset is activley killing lemmy and I want lemmy to grow. Your asshole attitude isn’t helping you make your point either.
Generic users should at first join a recommended server. Those don’t require essays. If they wanna join some niche server that has “high standards” in one way or another, then they shouldn’t expect the same requirements.
If you wanna promote lemmy, suggest ppl join any of the recommended servers that don’t require essays. I see no incompatibility with mass adoption (what you propose) and some servers not allowing everyone to join. Just promote the ones that do allow everyone to join and don’t promote any list of servers that puts the essay-requiring ones at the top cuz, as you say, that will obviously make it so very few people join.
Not to mention that even after you do the essay, it takes forever to get approval on a lot of places. I signed up on lemmy.one first, and couldn’t log in for a long time…then signed up at beehaw.org. My lemmy.one account finally became active yesterday, while my beehaw.org one still hasn’t been activated, and it’s been 3 days.
Just curious, what’s the point of having an account at multiple? I was under the impression you could use one anywhere to use it everywhere.
you realize you can still view the communities without logging in, and decide whether you vibe with it.
also, I noticed quite a few instances had pinned posts introducing the instance to new people and telling them about what the instance stood for.
Because with a federated model, servers can have different rulesets for their members, and and whitelists are an easy way of enforcing that.
Sucks for the users, good for the admins. If you have an alternative method for this, feel free to make a PR to lemmy and let server admins know of your update.
If you can’t code and don’t want to learn to code, but it’s still important to you, you can hire a developer on fiver to help you.
I would like to see lemmy succeed but I don’t care enough to spend money or precious time for it. Your way of writing makes you seem like a really unpleasant person to be forced to interact with IRL
Thanks I guess.
You’re good.
Buddy rage quit? Must have been a troll.
I don’t speak for how server admins vet the approvals but I know for sure it helps to avoid bots. Or used to avoid bots prior to chatgpt.
lemmy.world unite!
Just registered. Very excited for this new adventure.
Same! Can’t wait to see what happens.
